Since 2003, StoryCorps has collected and archived more than 35,000 interviews from more than 70,000 participants. Each conversation is recorded on a free CD to share, and is preserved at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. StoryCorps is one of the largest oral history projects of its kind, and millions listen to our broadcasts on our Listen page and on public radio.

This year, StoryCorps dedicated the annual “National Day of Listening” theme as “It’s Never Too Late to Support a Teacher”. This is the time to thank a teacher- give them a call, write a letter, or just publicly thank a teacher in conversation with your family, friends and colleagues.

I’d like to thank my Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Williams. She gave me a great start with her classroom filled with imaginative play and academic activities. We learned to love books, learned to spell, earned books to take home (purchased with her own money of course), made broom handle ponies with mop manes, played house with small furniture (including a kid size toy iron and ironing board).

I’ve been lucky to have a number of inspiring teachers. I remember my second grade teacher, Mrs. Ford, for her jars of dead creatures and other science exhibits on her long counter at the back of the room. Mrs. Layne, in third grade, also combined motherly and scholarly curriculum in her supportive classroom environment. We thrived. Mrs. Birkenbuel, my sewing teacher in high school, held us to high standards while inspiring our creativity. (Okay, we did call her “Mrs. Birkenbitch behind her back. But I went back to thank her when I was about 25. She taught me everything I needed to know about sewing.) In college, a math teacher inspired me to love mathematics, a subject I’d come to loathe in high school.

Sadly, Mrs. Williams, the Kindergarten teacher that taught me a love of learning, died in 1972. In the newspaper article, it says that she retired in 1959, about 3 years after I’d been in her classroom. How amazing that she loved teaching every bit as much at the end of her career as she must have in the beginning. Her son died in 2008, but I think I might have found a grandson. If he’s Mrs. Williams grandson, I will be able to tell him how much his grandmother meant to me!

I’m ready to add the borders in the “quilt-as-you-go” method. I started with one of the vertical sides by trimming through all the layers, leaving about 1/4″ of batting beyond the edge of the fabric (shown contrasted against the back of the quilt).

“Un-sew” (rip out) the water-soluble thread. Peel back the quilt top fabric. (I used 505 Spray Baste product- it releases just fine.)

Sew the quilt top border to the quilt top, right sides together. Press seam open. Stitch seam in place with water-soluble thread (shown here).

Repeat with the back of the quilt. Sew the back border fabric to the back quilt top, right sides together (shown pinned here). Use a 1/2″ seam to offset all those seam allowances on top of each other. Press seam open and stitch seam in place with water-soluble thread.

Cut a piece of batting longer than the quilt top and wider than the border (by a couple of inches). Layer the batting over the quilt back border fabric, so the edge of the batting slightly overlaps the batting in the quilt top. Whipstitch the batting edges together nice and easy- no pulling or puckering. All this is easier to do than to read these sentences!

Smooth out the quilt top border over the batting. I hand basted with water-soluble thread- just enough to be able to handle the quilt and machine stitch parallel lines through all the layers with water-soluble thread. (I use Vanish Lite by Superior, because- it is superior.)

Now, some people “quilt by check”. This frees up more time to make quilt tops and keeps our talented long arm quilters in business. But I like to do my own machine quilting on my little Bernina 155. Even though I am tall and have a big lap, I could never quilt this monster in one piece as a finished quilt.

You might argue that all the pesky little steps is time consuming. Hey, any time you make a quilt it’s time consuming. There is usually some sort of trade off with time vs methods.

I love this method- now, only 3 more borders to go. and when I’m done, I’m really really done!

Georgia Bonsteel is credited with launching the original “quilt as you go” method about 30 years ago. She wrote about quilting a block a time, leaving an inch or so around the outside edge unquilted. With that inch, you could connect the top to the top, the batting to the batting, and the back to the back….but you had to go back and quilt those blank strips.

I fooled around with other (less tedious) ways to quilt as you sew- then I learned many others had too. Great minds think alike! Check out Quilters Newsletter, August/September 2009/No. 411 for my article with Crys Kyle of Bend, Oregon (Quilt-As-You-Sew Three ways).

But now, I’ve gone back to Georgia Bonsteel with a twist: I quilted 4 large panels (about 40″ by 48″), leaving a whopping 5″ swath unquilted. I used my stop & start single daisies (with triple petals, inspired by Elizabeth Hartman, ohfransson.com), with faith that I could go back and fill in that swath with more daisies.

I’m pleased to announce: it works!

Here are the raw edges of two quilted panels. Each panel has a different floral print (which will make a giant four-square patch on the back).

Step 1: Sew the “top to the top” right sides together. I peeled back the batting and backing fabric, placed RST, pinned and sewed the seam.

Now you can see the seam before pressing and after pressing. You’ll probably notice white thread stitched in straight lines- that’s Vanish Lite by Superior, a water-soluble thread. I stitched this seam (and all the others) open with Vanish- worth the 2 extra minutes, I tell you!

In this series, you can see going from connecting the batting from each panel to marking, trimming and folding the edges of the two backing fabrics. I will blindstitch the edge…fill in the daisies and go on to the borders.

It’s been a busy Fall Season here in beautiful but cold Central Oregon. The new additions to the family (aka “The Monsters”) are cute when asleep. In the tent, Izzy, the sweet little girl, is on the left, and Cooper, the all boy cat, is on the right. Although they get bigger everyday, they still love to be stuffed inside a vest or a jacket (Cooper-left, Izzy-right) to sleep.

A new book from C&T Publishing has hit the shops- “Modern Blocks, 99 Blocks From Your Favorite Designers”. I’d recommend it even if my original triangle block was not included…but it is, on page 18. The blocks are fun, fresh, original or modern adaptations of blocks in the public domain. Check out the Modern Quilt Guild online (themodernquiltguild.com), or check out Elizabeth Hartman’s blog (www.ohfransson.com), or look for a “modern quilt guild” group in your area. Yes, I love modern blocks.

If you are near or driving through Medford, Oregon, stop at the Rogue Gallery & Art Center (40 South Bartlett, downtown)  to see their wonderful Holiday Boutique selection. While there, browse the last of my Limited Edition 2011 Skinny Scarfs- once they’re gone, they are gone-baby-gone.

Happy Birthday to my favorite people, Bob and April!

While I criss-crossed Oregon and enjoyed “urban” things in Portland, my quilt “Daisy Doodle” went to Tacoma as a juried quilt in the Pacific West Quilt Show (apwq.org). So close but so far- I just couldn’t cross the river to Tacoma that weekend- but a friend took this photograph for me.

Meanwhile, I’m about to ship this quilt, “Happy Magic” to my favorite quilt show, Pacific International Quilt Festival, in Santa Clara. Get there if you can: October 13-16.

When our group exhibit “Color Cascade” was invited to be on display at Alex Anderson’s “Quilting in the Garden” annual event at Alden Lane Nursery in Livermore, California, Pat Pease took on the challenge to get it there. Another venue where this group of quilts intrigued and captured the imagination of quilters and non-quilters alike.

They are a handful! I mean the two new kittens in our household: Cooper (held by Luke) and Izzy (held by Colleen). Luke and Colleen visited in September for almost a week- lots of cooking and eating and doing “rural” things.

Blame it on David! He stopped by the Humane Society of Central Oregon on the way home and fell in love with these two kittens. He had to sit in front of their cage until I got there so we could agree and adopt. Cooper loves playing in front of the mirror and both love snuggling and sleeping. Oh, and turning our house upside down while they are awake!

What’s Next? It’s a big Six-Oh (my!) Birthday in ten days. Hopefully I’ll be doing some sewing. And getting good news. I love good news.

Back in 2004/5, I adapted the Sawtooth Star for this quilt, using the scrappy double star for the “A” block, with the black/white plus assorted solid color single stars for the “B” block. I built in the single Irish Chain secondary pattern with the pieced corners.

But, I’ve always been bugged about losing the squares on point in the secondary pattern. I tried out a fabric from my closet, which while not perfect, showed me I needed to make the “B” block a double star as well. I found the perfect fabric a couple of days ago: voila!

Here are the last two stars for the time being. After my sewing machine gets back from its annual maintenance trip, I’ll go back to those projects abandoned back in early 2011 for zipper stuff. Stay tuned!

When you see the alternate block, you’ll understand why this project started on the list for my fourth book about bias covered curves. Time ran out, but Karla Rogers saved me by contributing a quilt with bias covered curve ladybugs for the whole circle chapter (thank you Karla!).

I planned from the beginning to use scraps with no predetermined color or value placement. Stars come forward, recede, jump out, disappear and more.

These blocks have become a kind of time machine, documenting the fabrics hanging around at any given period. Most of these fabrics come from the “lime green tomato red” group, with some from the “yellow” quilt, others from miscellaneous leftovers and I’ve snabbed a few new fabrics from the upcoming “Echino/Japanese plus” fabric collection.

I plan to have about 64 blocks total: 32 of these double sawtooth star blocks and 32 of the alternate block, which you haven’t seen yet. I have a long way to go with 16 blocks, but, pretty soon tomorrow will be yesterday and I’ll have a new batch of leftover fabrics to play with.

At Rick Steffen’s booth at the Wednesday Farmer’s Market in Bend, Oregon, I tasted a fresh roasted pepper while selecting baby Japanese eggplant. Wow- the simple delicious taste of fresh picked peppers, olive oil and salt is incredible. I could not walk away without a box of peppers (the name starts with a “‘p”…). I almost ate the whole batch by myself.

Corn from Groundwork Organics (also from the Valley) is so good- I could eat it morning, noon and night. I simmer it in an inch of water for just a few minutes, and serve it with Tuscany olive oil, fresh cracked pepper, and salt. Grilling in the husk (minus the strings) is also good, but I couldn’t wait to fire up the gas grill (no coals allowed here).

Heirloom cherry tomatoes with fresh picked lettuce (also from Groundwork Organics) added to my courses last night.

The final dinner course: David’s pepperoni pizza with whole grain crust, fresh mozzarella, Parmigiano Reggiano, pineapple and sausage. David’s tip of the day: slice up the pepperoni and microwave it on top of a lot of paper towels until barely crisp. You’ll be amazed by the amount of fat soaked into the paper towel and pleasantly surprised by the crisp pepperoni on your pizza without all that red grease.

Sometimes, we just have to try out fabric combinations and compare. When I first placed the rusty-orange squares in the outer four corners, I thought I loved it.

But I had to try another fabric. This greenish-brown fabric evoked an entirely different feeling. I dismissed the rusty-orange squares for this new fabric choice.

But then, this (grayed) pink fabric caught my heart. The previous block has that folksy Amish glowing feeling, while this block lights up with the pink. What to choose?

I decided on the pink. (The colors in the photos change with the different time of day and light in my sewing room…I apologize.) While I liked both, the scale tipped in favor of this combination.

Michael James, artist and quilter, talks about the “color conversation”. He tells the story of building fabric combinations as being similar to a baby growing up. At first, the fabrics babble. Then they start to speak a few words- later complete sentences. In the teen years, the fabrics start to talk back. As a young adult, the fabrics announce “enough”, and you are finished.

In her book, “Color: The Quilter’s Guide” by Christine Barnes, from 1997 (and still available), Christine gives a lot of examples of “good, better, best”. She talks about the importance of naming colors for building affinity for fabric combinations. For example, if I told you this block uses orange, green and purple OR sage, salmon, peach and gray orchid, which group of names looks more like the actual block? Which color names hit you over the head and which has personality?

I didn’t intend to put together a “triadic” color scheme. I just started combining fabrics and came upon these fabrics by playing around. If you want help with color schemes, Joen Wolfrom’s “3-in-1 Color Tool” (published by C&T Publishing) gives both technical information and color samples for playing around.

This “Double Sawtooth Star” project didn’t get finished in time to be included in my fourth book, “Easy Bias Covered Curves”. Since then, it’s languished. With my sewing machine needing maintenance, with my left shoulder sore from an injection, with my mind on vacation…I decided to play with my new batch of leftover fabrics.

I adapted two blocks for this project: the Double Sawtooth Star and the Moon and Stars blocks. The “Moon and Stars” block traditionally has an appliqued circle in the middle with plain squares on the outside corners. Of course, I am using my continuous bias loop to cover the circle (easy bias covered curves, you know!) and I added the pieced corners to create a new secondary pattern with a single Irish Chain.

I’m using scraps for this block, with no color or value placement plan. (I’ll show the second block next week.)

This sequence of photos shows how the look of the block changes, depending upon the fabrics. The “look” means how the shapes come forward or recede, how the style changes, how a feeling is evoked..or not.

Sunday Circles: It’s a conversation, but I get to have the last word.